Restorative Nutrition & Lifestyle

Chicken Soup with Lemon and Turmeric

It’s been so cold lately and I’m also getting over a nasty cold so a warm and nourishing soup sounded like the perfect addition to my kitchen this afternoon. Luckily, I had prepped well for it and made my homemade chicken broth in the crockpot yesterday. Store-bought
chicken broth is generally loaded with sodium and nearly always has onion and garlic in it, which are a big no-no for any low FODMAP follower. HINT: Onion and garlic are two of the top IBS offenders and I believe are often way over-used in the culinary world. Food can still have so many flavors without these two common spices, and I’ll show you how!

Although making your own broth adds about a day to your meal prepping, its taste and healing nutritional value is completely worth it!! Broths are not only easy to digest but are extremely healing to the gut or any virus/illness you’re body is fighting off. Plus, if you do it right, you get to keep all the chicken meat – it’s a win-win and extremely cost effective. Side note, I was super excited to find a local company who offer a few bone stocks without garlic or onion and will be featuring them and my own recipe in a different post coming soon.

Anyway, back to my soup endeavor today…I decided to go for my Chicken Soup with Turmeric and Lemon. I was craving some potent turmeric to help shake this cold and love a refreshing lemony soup. It’s a great combination of hot and cool aromas. This soup does provide a hefty serving of turmeric, but isn’t too powerful on your taste buds. It really blends nicely and even provides a tint of yellow reminding me of good old fashioned chicken noodle soup. If you’re not a huge turmeric fan I think you could still give this recipe a shot and you’d be pleasantly surprised. You could even start with 1-2 teaspoons of turmeric and add more as you become more comfortable with the flavors- your body will be sure to thank you. Turmeric is an extremely effective anti-inflammatory and has been known to help heal the gut and promote the growth of good bacteria.

The combination of the homemade broth, turmeric, and lemon make this soup a very nourishing and healing concoction I’m sure you’ll be pleased with. Enjoy!

In a large stockpot heat the olive oil under low-medium heat. Add the carrots, zucchini, thyme, and rosemary. Season with salt and pepper. Sautee for about 5 minutes, then add scallions and sauté for additional 5 minutes, or until veggies are slightly browned.

Add the broth, turmeric and cumin to stockpot. Turn heat up to medium high and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer for about 10 minutes.

While the soup is simmering, whisk the egg and lemon juice in a small bowl. Ladle about 1 cup of soup into egg mixture and whisk. Slowly stir egg mixture back into soup and simmer for additional 5 minutes for egg to cook. Note: you don’t want to be able to see egg chunks.

Add the rice and chicken meat to soup and continuing to simmer for 5 more minutes. Taste and add salt and pepper if needed.

Store in fridge for up to 4 days.

Note: you can easily omit the egg. I like how it adds a little thickness to it.